More Than One Way to Travel Through Space and Time
by Kaeldre Hemlock
Summary: Dr. Sam Beckett leaps into the year 1997 and assumes the role of Colonel Jack O'Neill. His mission? To save Doctor Daniel Jackson from the clutches of the Goa'uld when a simple mission goes awry.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** - _This is my first time EVER submitting fanfiction to this site. This is also the first time I've written fanfiction since 8th or 9th grade (I'm in my next-to-last year of college) so I apologize if my writing style seems sloppy or disorganized._

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Stargate: SG-1 or Quantum Leap

Over the years, Sam Beckett had become no stranger to leaping into confusing situations, but this was the epitome of strange… He had become accustomed to the sensation that leaping gave him but this time it was different. He felt as though he was flying through time and space as light as a feather. He had all but lost himself in the sensation before he felt himself come crashing face-first into a cold, metal ramp. He heard others charging down the ramp around him, their heavy boots clanking against the metal. Behind him, he heard a strange sound… he turned around to see a giant ring with a blue center that quickly disappeared, leaving the giant ring empty in the middle. Sam was completely and utterly lost and confused this time. _Oh boy!_

"Sir!" called a female voice from the bottom of the ramp.

"Wha…?" Sam turned back around to see a woman with short blonde hair, dressed in green military fatigues and tactical gear kneeling down next to him. She extended her hand to help him up.

"You okay?" She asked. Sam took her hand and clambered to his feet. The leap combined with whatever just happened left his legs feeling like gelatin.

"Y-yeah," Sam stammered, "I-I guess I just…tripped." He hung on to her arm to keep from toppling over and coming face to face with the ramp again. She guided him down the ramp towards two men, both dressed in the same fatigues and gear. One was a tall, muscular, dark-skinned man with a shiny bald head and what looked like a golden tattoo on his forehead. The other was a scrawny-looking man with medium-length light brown hair, big blue eyes, and glasses. He looked like he couldn't be more than 26 or 27.

"Welcome back, SG-1" a Southern voice bellowed over the intercom. Sam looked around to try and determine where the voice had come from. There was a large window that opened up into what Sam assumed to be some sort of control room. A round, middle-aged, bald man leaned into a microphone and continued to address the group.

"Go get yourselves cleaned up and we'll debrief in one hour." The two men and the blonde woman headed out through a large door and out into a hallway. Sam turned around to stare at the giant ring. It was made up of an inner ring and an outer ring. The outer ring was surrounded with 7 chevrons and the inner ring had strange symbols all the way around it. Whatever it was, Sam assumed that he and the rest of the group had somehow come through it.

"Colonel?" the blonde woman snapped Sam out of his trance.

"Yeah…um… I'm coming," Sam mumbled. He jogged to catch up with them and followed them down the hall. Well, now Sam knew that he was a Colonel in some branch of the military, but that was it. The complex he found himself in was cold and grey with cement walls and floors. _Must be some sort of military base,_ Sam thought to himself.

"A-hunting we will go, eh Sam?" said a familiar voice behind him, indicating his forest camouflage fatigues. Sam started, not expecting his friend Al to appear behind him. "You know, that's not really a bad look for you, though the guns…not so much." He gestured to the pistol strapped to Sam's leg and the sub-machine gun clipped to his tactical vest.

Sam sighed and cut eye daggers at the hologram of his friend, "Not helping, Al." Sam responded in a hushed voice, "This is going to sound weird, but there's a big room and there's this ring that I think me and three others came through. Like… some sort of gate."  
Al smacked his handset. "Well…" he started, "We don't have a lot of information. This is all top-secret Air Force stuff…the kind of stuff that you'd have to sell your soul to get your hands on. All we know is that the date is April 11th1997, your name is Jack O'Neill, you're an Air Force colonel, you're inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado, and you're 26 floors underground. No information about the complex or the group you're working with. " Sam followed the young man and the dark man into what appeared to be a locker room. He found a corner away from everyone where he could talk with Al without seeming like he was talking to himself.

"Any idea what I'm doing here?" Sam asked.

Al punched a few buttons on his handset. "We won't know anything until we find out what this place is. Right now we don't have a lot to go on."  
"Well that's helpful," Sam mumbled as he tried to pry off his combat boots.

"Look," Al started, "Just get cleaned up, do whatever else you have to do to act natural, and I'll see if I can speed Ziggy up. Just play it cool and no funny business. Do that around here and they're liable to lock you up. Good luck, buddy." Before Sam could say anything else, the imaging chamber door opened and Al disappeared through it.

"Great…" Sam muttered, "Just great…Top secret military base, giant transport ring thing…" He wandered up and down the rows of lockers looking for one labeled 'Jack O'Neill'. He found it and pried it open. The inside of the locker door was plastered with pictures of him and a woman, assumed to be his wife, and a young boy; his son. Among those were pictures of him and the group he had just been with. This Jack O'Neill was obviously a family man and good friend outside of this base. Sam rummaged around the locker looking for a clean pair of socks and boxers. What was he supposed to change into? Next to his locker was a rack of assorted fatigues and black t-shirts. Each of the jackets had the same circular patches, one on each shoulder. One of them was black and grey with and made up of strange symbols, one of which looked like the chevrons on the giant ring. The patch said 'SG' along the top with the number '1' in the center. The other was black with the Earth in the center, surrounded by symbols similar to those he'd seen on the giant ring. Placed atop the image of the Earth was what looked like a variation of the letter 'A' with a small circle above it.

_Maybe this is some sort of Air Force space program?_ Sam thought. He picked the plain green fatigues, gathered up his underclothes, towels and a black shirt and headed for the showers. He caught a glimpse of his reflection as he passed by a mirror and stopped in front of it to get a better look. Staring back at him was a gruff, hardened military man with a mess of brown hair atop his head, some wrinkles forming in the corners of his eyes, and the beginnings of some stubble across his chin. The man staring back at him couldn't have been more than 40. Seeing the dirt and dried sweat caked around his face, Sam figured a shower would be a good idea. He picked the shower stall on the far side of the room and set his clothes down on the chair outside of the shower stall and hung his towels on the hook right next to the stall. He started the water and made sure it was piping hot before he stripped down and stepped under the stream, showering luxuriously.


	2. Chapter 2

The more Sam thought about it, the more that this facility—whatever it was—reminded him more and more of Project Quantum Leap. Secluded, top secret, and there was obviously some science behind it as he has passed by several labs while wandering about trying to find wherever he was supposed to be for the debriefing. He had mentally dozed off as he wandered and the sound of a perky female voice snapped him out of it. He looked up to see the blonde woman from earlier trotting alongside him.

"Hi," she said in a cheerful voice with a smile.

"H-hi," Sam responded, not sure what to say.

"Any plans for the weekend? Word is that the General is giving us some time off." Sam had to think quickly. What would this "Jack O'Neil" character do on the weekend?

"Um..y'know..just…Barbequing?"

The woman's eyes lit up. "That sounds like a great idea, sir! I was going to stay on base and get some work done but, if you don't mind, I'd like to drop in. I'll ask Daniel and Teal'c if they'd like to come along!"

_Nice going, Beckett. You don't even know where this Jack O'Neill lives and you've already invited all of his friends over for a barbeque._ Sam mentally slapped himself. He turned a corner and the blonde woman turned the opposite corner, heading for a set of stairs.

"Um, sir? Where are you going? The briefing room's this way." Sam stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"Oh! Um… right. Sorry." He followed her up the set of stairs to the next floor.

"Are you feeling alright, sir? You've seemed a little bit off ever since we came back from that mission." Sam stammered trying to find an answer, but the woman spoke for him.

"I know what it is. You're still not used to gate travel. I don't think any of us are quite yet."

_Gate travel? So that big ring… is some sort of…gate?_ The woman set foot on the next floor and Sam followed after her. She opened the first door on her right and held it open for Sam. In the center of the room was a massive oak table obviously used for these meetings. At the head of the table sat the round bald man who, at this point, Sam assumed to be the General. The bald, dark-skinned man sat on one side of the table and the bespectacled young man sat opposite him. Feeling almost intimidated by the dark-skinned man, Sam took a seat next to the young man and the woman took the seat opposite him. The General stood up and addressed the group.

"Well, now that we're all here, why don't we go ahead and get started. Captain Carter?" The General sat down and the blonde woman took the floor. She went on and on about some place called PX3597-something and some kind of mineral mine while reading off of some notes that she shuffled around in her hands. Sam was only partially paying attention as his mind raced, hoping no one here would be expecting him to speak. Where was Al? Surely he'd as least found something out about this place by now. Almost as if on cue, the imaging chamber door opened and Al stepped through, materializing right in front of the blonde woman, that Sam now new as Captain Carter, as she continued to speak.

"Aye, aye, aye!" Al purred as he looked the Captain up and down, "Now ain't you something?" Sam buried his face in his palm as he watched his friend faun over the Captain. He jerked his head, trying to get Al's attention and not wanting to interrupt the debriefing. Al, seeing his friend's frantic motions, disappeared and then reappeared by his side.

"Man…" Al sighed, "Would you look at the gazangas on that one…"

"Al!" Sam whispered sharply. It was loud enough that the young man in glasses looked over to see what Sam was doing. He saw nothing out of the ordinary and turned back to listen to the rest of the Captain's debrief.

"So? Did you find out anything?" Sam whispered frantically.

"Well…" Al began, "It wasn't easy…but I pulled a few strings and I had some people in Washington that owed me a few favours…" he poked a few buttons on his handset that he produced from his red and green plaid blazer.

_Jeeze,_ Al, Sam pondered, _I wouldn't be surprised if the man in the moon could see that jacket from orbit. _

"Okay… we've already established that your name is Jack O'Neill.. You're a Colonel in the Air Force…You're divorced…Uhh.." he jabbed some more buttons, "You had a son…who got into your pistol and accidentally shot himself a few years ago."

Sam deflated. Well, so much for the barbeque idea…Here I thought I'd have a family to share it with in addition to some friends… Sam composed himself before showering Al with more questions.

"Any information on this place? The big ring? What I'm doing here?"

"Hang on, hang on…" Al smacked the handset and it squealed in protest, "The facility is called Stargate Command. It's a top secret military base located 26 floors under NORAD…but you already knew that, and it appears to be in its first year of operation. Umm…The big ring is the Stargate itself. It was discovered in the 1920's in Egypt and sat in storage until 1994 when a man by the name of Doctor Daniel Jackson was able to translate the stone tablets found with the gate as well as the symbols on the gate. The gate is activated by a seven symbol code that corresponds to another gate. When a connection is established between the two gates, a wormhole is formed that connects the two, allowing for travel between the planets. Basically like a giant, intergalactic phone."

"Wait… what?!" Sam gasped a little louder than he meant to. The Captain stopped speaking and all eyes were on him.

"Was there something you wanted to add, sir?" The Captain asked.

"I…uhh… No," Sam floundered, "P-please continue."

The Captain nodded and resumed her speech. Sam waited a few seconds before turning to speak with Al.  
"Wait… so you're telling me that it's possible to travel to other planets?"

"Kinda makes Project Quantum Leap seem like nothing, eh?" Al smacked the handlink a few more times and it displayed more information. "You, Colonel Jack O'Neill are the commanding officer of the team SG-1. That's these guys," Al gestured to the group, "They are Captain Samantha Carter: A theoretical astrophysicist for the Air Force—She also goes by Sam. Sitting next to you is Doctor Daniel Jackson himself; a skilled linguist and archeologist who was part of the first team to go through the Stargate. Across from him we have Teal'c; a former resident of the planet Chulak, and the big bald Texan is General George Hammond; the head of Stargate Command"

Sam looked around at the group, his eyes stopping on Teal'c who turned towards him and raised an eyebrow. Sam gave a sheepish smile and quickly turned back to Al.

"What does Ziggy say I'm here to do?"

Al's expression turned grim, "There's more to this…There's a parasitic alien race out there known as the Goa'uld. They take hosts and parade around pretending to be gods in order to bend people to their will. Their footsoldiers are called Jaffa, which is what Teal'c used to be. He used to be first prime, right-hand man, to the Goa'uld system lord Apophis before he joined this team. He realized that he was serving a false god and joined up with SG-1 in order to help take down the Goa'uld."

This was a lot of information for Sam to process. Interplanetary travel? Wormholes? Evil aliens set on taking over the galaxy? Sam sank down in his chair.

"Oooohh…boy.." he sighed, "Please don't tell me I'm here to save the universe from these Goold, or whatever they're called."

Sam's sigh caught the attention of the General, who had been keeping an eye on him throughout the entire debriefing.

"Son, are you feeling alright?" he asked. The young man next to Sam, Doctor Daniel Jackson, chimed in, "Yeah, Jack. You've been looking pale ever since we got back."

The General stood up, "Why don't you go see Doctor Fraisier. We can continue this debrief at a later date. Dismissed and enjoy your time off."  
Everyone stood up and gathered their notes. Al took this as an opportunity to slip out.

"I'll be back as soon as I find out why you're here." The imaging chamber door opened and Al disappeared through it with it closing behind him. Sam stood up and tried to make a stealthy exit, but all eyes were on him. He crossed the threshold of the meeting room and headed down the hallway. He had no clue where he was going, but he figured it would be better to wander and find this Doctor Fraisier himself than to ask where she was and cause this team of his more undue alarm.


	3. Chapter 3

The little brunette doctor (whom Al would have found irresistible) gave Sam a clean bill of health, attributing his "strange behaviour" to gate travel. She dismissed him and Sam headed back to the lockers to change out of his fatigues and into his street clothes, which consisted of just an Air Force t-shirt and jeans. He took the elevator up the 26 floors and took the shuttle to the parking lot. Sam had no clue what kind of vehicle he was looking for, but the key and remote dongle on his keyring had the name 'Ford' stamped across them, so that narrowed it down. The only Ford on the lot was a big, black pickup truck. Sam made a comment to himself about it being a "monster truck" and clambered inside.

Al had popped in just in time to guide Sam home. In between directions, Al fed Sam all of the information he had gleaned from Ziggy. "According to Ziggy, on April 14, 1997 you get ambushed by an army of Jaffa while on a mission. Your whole team gets captured and you all manage to escape..except for Daniel. Turn right on to this road here."

Sam's heart sank. _How?_ he wondered. Al continued, "It's not certain whether or not he was killed…but, despite Stargate Command's best efforts, they never found him."

Sam was lost in his own thoughts. Sure, Daniel looked a little scrawny and not fit for combat, but he was sure that he had at least been somewhat trained before they let him go on missions. Why was everyone able to escape but him? The road Sam was on meandered through some dense woods before opening up to reveal a rural neighborhood in the hills. Al went on to explain the aftermath of Daniel's disappearance, "Jack blamed himself for Daniel's capture and disappearance and never forgave himself. He left Stargate Command and moved back home to Minnesota. Samantha went to work at Area 51, and Teal'c went back to his home planet. Basically, Stargate Command's elite team dissolves because of this."

Sam thought back to the calendar he had seen on the wall in the locker room. "You said this happens on the 14?" he asked, "That's Monday. That gives me this whole weekend to come up with a way to either stop or delay the mission." This would also give him time to get to know his Jack O'Neill's team. "I'm not going to lie to you, Sam," said Al, "This isn't going to be easy. I know you've leapt into a test pilot and a Vietnam soldier before, but this is different. Gooshie and I have been talking with Jack O'Neill in the Waiting Room and, from what he's told us, these Jaffa foot soldiers are scary."

Al had been able to pry some information from Jack after he had mentioned that Project Quantum Leap was also a top secret facility and that none of the information he shared was going anywhere. "They have these staff weapons," Al continued, "That fire energy blasts. There are also these hand devices that System Lords carry that…pretty much scramble your brain. Oh, and the house you're looking for is as the end of this road."

Sam continued along the road and, at the end, was a modern cabin-like home that sat up against the woods. Sam pulled the truck into the driveway and cut it off. The sun was just starting to disappear on the horizon and the orange sunlight splashed across the tops of the trees. Sam turned around to see the hologram of his friend gone without a word. He fumbled with his keys and made his way inside the house. It was a cozy little home; to the left of the entry way was the living room and to the right was the kitchen with the dining room branching off of it. Sam made a beeline for the living room and collapsed on the couch, suddenly realizing how tired he was. "All these years leaping from person to person," he said to himself, "I never thought I'd be saving someone from the clutches of aliens…" He kicked his shoes off and stretched out across the sofa, grabbing the afghan that was folded neatly across the back and draping it over himself. I'll just rest my eyes for a few minutes… Sam settled into a deep, peaceful sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

_**DING DONG**_

Sam jerked awake. Who could be ringing the doorbell at this hour? He wondered, thinking it was still the middle of the night. The morning sunlight spilling through the windows and across the living room floor told him otherwise and the clock on the VCR told him it was a little after 11 AM. Huh…_ I didn't realize I was THAT tired._ He rolled off the sofa and tossed the afghan carelessly across the back of it. He scurried to the door and opened it to find Daniel and Teal'c.

"'Morning, Jack," Daniel greeted with a pleasant grin.

"Good morning, Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c said with a nod.

"Hi, guys," Sam responded, "Aren't you a little early?"

He hadn't forgotten about the barbeque he 'accidentally' decided to have, but he figured everyone would be arriving later.  
"We thought we'd drop by early and help you get things set up," Daniel explained.

"Well, come on in, then," Sam moved to the side to let his friends in. Daniel immediately took notice of the messy state of the sofa and afghan as well as Sam's disheveled appearance.

"Yeah, sorry for the mess," Sam apologized, "I was really tired when I got home last night that I just passed out on the sofa. I didn't have time to clean up."

Daniel took a seat on the sofa and Teal'c took an armchair opposite him. "We'll make ourselves at home," said Daniel, "You go get cleaned up."  
"Right," Sam responded, "I'll try not to take long. Help yourselves to whatever's in the fridge." Sam hadn't even looked to see what was in the refrigerator. It could be empty or everything could be spoiled for all he knew! For his—Jack's—friends' sakes, he hoped there was at least something edible in there.

Sam took a quick shower and rifled through the dresser drawers and closet trying to find something to wear. This Jack O'Neill was extremely casual when he wasn't on base. Both the dresser and closet were littered with jeans, t-shirts, pajama pants, and flannels with the occasional pair of khaki's and polo shirts mixed in. Sam settled on jeans and a grey t-shirt that advertised some firearm manufacturer that Sam was unfamiliar with. He raked his fingers through his damp hair in a vain attempt to bring it under some kind of control. He made an appearance in the living room once more and was greeted with the fourth member of his team.

"Good morning, sir" she greeted cheerfully.

Sam grinned, "'Morning, Carter." He turned his gaze to Daniel who was downing the last of a beer purloined from the refrigerator.  
"Daniel, go get the grill warmed up. I'll get some steaks marinated and seasoned." Sam dug into the freezer, pulled out four lean steaks, and set them in the sink to thaw. He assigned tasks to the rest of the team; Carter was in charge of making the salad, Teal'c was setting up the poker table, and Sam rummaged through a cabinet of videotapes looking for a movie for them to watch later. The aura of closeness and companionship that seemed to resonate throughout the house almost made Sam forget that this was Jack O'Neill's life, not his. He almost didn't want to leap and leave this behind but, at the same time, gatherings such as this were going to be a thing of the past if he didn't save Daniel…


	5. Chapter 5

The weekend came and went. The team had all spent the night after their Saturday barbeque and had gone hiking the next day. Sam had taken the time to get to know his team without giving the impression that something was wrong. Al made a sole appearance, but offered no news pertaining to the leap and only seemed to be there to make sure everything was alright. Monday found him and his team back in their places at Stargate Command. Sam realized that he hadn't, not even once, thought of how he was going to delay the day's mission. He didn't have much time as SG-1 would be departing in less than two hours. He dropped the papers back down on his desk and scrubbed his face with his hands.

"Oh boy…." He sighed. If anything, _I should see what General Hammond thinks,_ Sam thought to himself. He slipped out of his office and wandered up and down the concrete corridors looking for the General's office.

Sam found the office with little trouble only having to backtrack twice. He gently rapped on the door with his knuckle. "It's open," came the reply.  
Sam poked his head inside the General's office. "Colonel O'Neill," the General greeted, looking up from a file he was reading, "What can I do for you, son?"

Sam found the round bald man's southern drawl comforting, almost fatherly. He found his way to a chair in front of the General's desk and took a seat. "Well," Sam began, "I wanted to talk about SG-1's upcoming mission."

Sam paused and looked up to see Al in the far corner of the office leaning against the wall and giving him a look of confidence. He turned his gaze back to the General and continued. "You see, sir… I don't have a very good feeling about this mission. I know we're just going to make friends with the locals and trade but… I just have this gut feeling that something isn't right and I would like it if we could postpone the mission." The General took a moment to process the information that Sam had just relayed to him.

"Do you think the Goa'uld could be operating on the planet?" the General asked. Sam knew. Sam knew everything but he couldn't tell the General without seeming suspicious.

"I don't know, sir. I just… I just don't think it's a good idea to send us on this mission right now. I'd rather listen to my gut feeling and keep myself and my team in one piece rather than charge headfirst into the situation."

"Well..." the General pondered Sam's request for a few seconds, "Request granted, Colonel. We'll send another MALP through this afternoon just to make sure there's nothing we missed when we sent the first one through. I'm glad that you're taking your team's safety into consideration."  
Sam stood up and the General saw him out. "Thank you, sir," Sam beamed.

"Not a problem, son." General Hammond returned Sam's warm smile and patted him on the back before returning to his desk. Sam shut the General's door behind him and heaved a massive sigh. That was the easy part. The hard part would be informing his team that their scheduled mission had been postponed.

He moved up and down the halls delivering the news to Teal'c first, who responded with merely a nod and the hope that they would go ahead with the mission at a later date. Next was Carter.

"Well, that's a shame," she sighed, "I suppose it's in the best interest of our safety... I just hope there's nothing malicious on that planet. Have you told Daniel yet, sir? He was really looking forward to this mission."

"I haven't talked with him yet," Sam responded, "Here's to hoping he takes it well." Carter nodded and returned to typing away at something on her computer. Sam moved down the hall to the last office. Dr. Daniel Jackson. The door was open and the young archaeologist was gathering a few notebooks and texts, stuffing them into a ratty green backpack. Sam knocked on the doorway to get the young man's attention. Daniel snapped his head up and shot Sam a pleasant smile.

"Oh, hi Jack," he greeted, "Just gathering a few things for the mission. I've been studying the images that MALP gathered and their civilization is similar to-"

"Daniel, the mission's been postponed." There, he'd said it. The tension silence that followed was palpable. Daniel's features melted from an expression of childlike excitement to that of just sheer anger and disappointment.

"I'm sorry," Daniel snapped, "What?" Sam had a hard time finding the words to explain what happened. He felt like his "feeling" of impending danger wasn't going to be enough.

"I-" Sam stammered, "Something feels off about that planet. I talked to General Hammond and he's going to have another MALP sent through to have another look at things before we go gallivanting off."

It felt like an eternity before Daniel spoke again. "You knew how much I was looking forward to this mission, Jack. You KNEW and yet you went and did THIS. I can't believe you..." The angry archaeologist snatched his backpack off of his desk and stormed out of the office, shoving past Sam on the way out. Sam sighed and leaned his forehead against the doorway.

"Nice going, Beckett..." he mumbled.

"Well that went well," a snide voice beside him remarked.

"What else was I supposed to do, Al?" Sam crossed the room and collapsed in Daniel's desk chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. "So... when am I gonna leap out of here?" After that exchange, Sam was more than ready to leave. Al consulted the beeping, whining handlink.

"Well... you changed history alright. There's now a 98% chance that Daniel- Oh no..." Sam lept from the chair and leaned over Al's shoulder to look at the handlink.

"What? What happens to Daniel?"

"Well..." Al hesitated, "...There's a 98% chance that... Daniel takes matters into his own hands and goes off to the planet by himself."

"Oh boy..." Sam breathed, "You've gotta be kidding me... Looks like we're going on this mission after all."

"Just be careful, Sam. These Goa'uld are extremely dangerous. One wrong move and you'll end up with an alien snake in your head."

"I'll be fine, Al," Sam reassured his friend, "I'll come back in one piece." Al was about to speak when the klaxon sounded, alerting the base to a 'gate activation. Before Al could offer any more words of encouragement, Sam took off down the corridor to the gate room, hoping he could catch Daniel before he stepped through the gate.


	6. Chapter 6

"Doctor Jackson, stand down!" Sam could hear General Hammond's Texan drawl as he crossed the threshold into the gate room. It appeared as though he was too late. The gate had established a wormhole and the water-like surface rippled, causing light to bounce around the dark concrete walls of the gate room. Daniel was halfway up the ramp to the gate, laden with his gear and backpack. Upon seeing Sam enter the room, he got a running start up the rest of the ramp and leapt through the gate. The wormhole closed behind him. Sam stared at the deactivated, empty gate and, for the first time in a long time, cursed loudly.

"Colonel O'Neill, do you mind telling me what just happened here?" General Hammond bellowed over the intercom.

"Get the rest of my team down here," Sam shouted back, "I'll explain everything." The General activated the base-wide PA system and summoned the rest of SG-1 to the gate room.

"So he just gathered his gear, dialed the gate when no one was around, and left?" Carter was about as confused as the rest of the group, "What on earth would possess him to do something like that?"

"I don't know, Captain Carter, but it looks like this postponed mission just turned into a search and rescue mission. Be on your guard as we still don't know if this planed poses any sort of threat." General Hammond looked up to the control room and gave the technician the okay to start dialing the gate. Hammond had called Teal'c and Carter to the gate room, suggesting that they gear up beforehand. Sam had stepped away in order to gear himself up to the best of his abilities. The center ring of the gate spun to life as the chevrons locked into place and lit up. Sam wasn't sure he was ready to step through that gate again, let alone set foot on a planet millions of light years away from earth. Would Al be able to find him? He was drawn out of his own thoughts as the technician in the control room confirmed that the seventh and final chevron was locked into place. The center of the gate exploded into a watery vortex with a loud _KAWOOSH _and then settled back into a puddle in the center of the stone circle. Sam was practically in awe. He hadn't even realized he had been staring, mouth agape, until Carter nudged his shoulder.

"Hey, it's not like you've never seen this before," Carter joked, obviously catching Sam's expression.

"It's just… really amazing," Sam responded, "I never get tired of looking at it." Sam, Carter, and Teal'c started up the ramp to the gate. Carter was the first to step through, the event horizon rippling behind her. Teal'c followed after and Sam took a few seconds to prepare himself before stepping through the event horizon. For a second time, Sam felt himself soaring through time and space as if on eagle's wings. He exited the gate, landing on two feet this time, and found himself in a clearing surrounded by alien evergreen-like trees. The sky was overcast and a thick fog hung heavy on the forest's canopy.

"As far as I know," Carter began, "The village we're looking for is at the end of this clearing. Shouldn't take us more than an hour to get there." The group set off across the clearing. To Sam, the planet seemed to have almost a foreboding feeling to it. Maybe it was the haze, or the grey skies, or even the fact that the plant life looked eerily similar to that on earth. Something just wasn't right…


End file.
